Dye and its solution

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a dye having a structural formula (I): ##STR1## where n is from 1 to 15, and a solution containing the dye. The dye is highly stable and has a characteristic color hue, and it is insoluble in water. The dye is expected to be useful in various fields of coating materials, dyes cosmetics and food additives.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novel dye and its solution. Moreprecisely, it relates to a novel dye which is highly stable and has acharacteristic color hue and which is insoluble in water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A red dye (carthamin) to be extracted from a safflower (Carthamustinctorius L.) is a compound which is useful as a lipstick or rouge or ared-dying substance. However, since extraction of a large amount ofcarthamin from a safflower is difficult, a method of producing a largeamount of carthamin has heretofore been studied earnestly.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application Nos. 62-69984, 62-69985 and63-199766 illustrate methods of producing a mixture containing a red dyeby callus-incubation of cells of flower buds of a safflower. The objectof the methods is to produce carthamin. As having an Rf value which isextremely near to the Rf value of carthamin, the dye produced by themethods was considered to be carthamin. However, since the dye producedby the methods was not isolated as a pure form, identification as towhether the dye is surely carthamin or not was not made by the priorart.

Under the situation, the present inventors investigated and studied therelated arts so as to isolate and identify the dye to be obtained bycallus-incubation of cells of flower buds of a safflower. As a result,they have found that the dye formed by such callus-incubation isdifferent from carthamin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Surprisingly, the present inventors have found that the dye formed bycallus-incubation of cells of flower buds of a safflower is differentfrom carthamin but is a novel compound falling within the scope of thefollowing general formula (I). ##STR2## where n is from 1 to 15.

The present invention provides a novel dye compound to be represented byformula (I) and a solution formed by dissolving it in a solvent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Compounds of formula (I0 of the present invention can be obtained, forexample, in accordance with the method described in Japanese PatentLaid-Open Application No. 63-199766 where a safflower is cultured bytissue culture, only a component which is soluble in a mixed solvent ofacetone/methanol is taken out from the crude product obtained by theculture, and the component is purified by column chromatography.(Examples mentioned below are referred to.) In addition, compounds offormula (I) of the present invention may also be produced by anysynthetic methods which are per se well known by those skilled in theart without effecting tissue culture.

The compound of the present invention of formula (I) where n is 1 is aviolet pillar-like needle-like crystal, and generally it gives a reddishcolor when formed into a solution. For instance, a methanol oracetonitrile solution of the compound is red. This is because thecompound of formula (I) varies to a limiting structure of the followingformula (II) via various structures in its solution. ##STR3## where n isfrom 1 to 15. (Examples mentioned below are referred to.) Formulae (I)and (II) indicates their limiting structures, and structural conversionbetween them in a solution is reversible. Therefore, removal of asolvent from the solution of the dye compound again gives a crystal offormula (I). In view of the phenomenon, the compounds of the presentinvention can be said to have a property suitable for coating andrecovery.

The claimed dye solution of the present invention includes all theconditions of crystals of formula (I) as dissolved in a solvent.Accordingly, it is not indispensable that the dye compound exists in thesolution in the form having a structure of formula (II) but it may betherein in any other possible form. The both chemical structures offormulae (I) and (II) indicate limiting ones so that the compounds mayhave various colors in an equilibrated condition between them.

The color of the compounds of the present invention comes to begradually black from reddish violet via bluish violet with increase ofthe value of n. Regarding compounds having conjugated double bond(s) inthe molecule like compounds of the present invention, it is known thatthe absorption wavelength is shifted to a long wavelength side almost atcertain intervals with prolongation of the conjugated system of themolecule. For instance, for carotinoids such as β-carotene and linearconjugated alkenes, the maximum absorption wavelength is shifted to along wavelength side by 20 to 30 nm with increase of one conjugateddouble bond in the molecule. Accordingly, considering the compounds ofthe present invention on the basis of the maximum absorption wavelengthof them where n is 1 or 2, it is obvious that the compounds where n isat least up to 15 are useful as a dye.

The compounds of the present invention give an extremely noble reddishviolet color hue when used for drying silks. It has heretofore been saidthat such a color hue could hardly be produced by the conventionaltechnical art. Since a color hue varies in accordance with the materialto which a dye is applied, a dye solution and a pH value in the dyingsystem, various color hues could be obtained by adequately selecting theconditions.

The compounds of the present invention are well soluble indimethylsulfoxide, pyridine, methanol, acetonitrile and acetone in thisorder. They are slightly soluble in acetone but are insoluble in ether,benzene, hexane, carbon tetrachloride and water. Accordingly, thecompounds of the present invention are utilized as a water-insolublehydrophobic dye. The hydrophobicity of the compounds of the presentinvention increases with increase of the value of n of the molecularformula.

The compounds of the present invention have a characteristic featurethat they have a strong binding power to polysaccharides such ascellulose and starch and to proteins. Therefore, the compounds of thepresent invention are suitable for dying silks and cottons. In addition,since the compounds of the present invention as existing in the solutionmay well be recovered by adsorbing them to a cellulosic substance, thecompounds may be utilized economically. The binding power of thecompounds of the present invention to polysaccharides and proteinsincreases with increase of the value of n of the molecular formula. Thecompounds of the present invention may further be hydrophobicated,whereby the affinity of the thus hydrophobicated compounds to highlyhydrophobic materials may be elevated much.

The compounds of the present invention and solutions of them areexcellently stable. For instance, crystals of the compounds do not varyeven when stored at room temperature for a long period of time; and amethanol solution of them may also exist stably for a long period oftime. The stable property of the compounds of the present invention iscontrary to the property of carthamin which rapidly varies to a complexthereof at room temperature and which decomposes in methanol in a shortperiod of time. The excellent stability of the compounds of the presentinvention could not be anticipated from the fact that they are unstablein a crude product to be obtained by tissue culture of a safflower.

The compounds of the present invention are stable as mentioned above. Inorder to augment the stability of them, a dye stabilizing agent such asBHT, BHC or an antioxidant may be added to them. If desired, thecompounds may be irradiated with UV ray to promote the crosslinkingreaction therein so as to further stabilize them. Since UV irradiationoften causes variation of the color of the irradiated compounds, it maybe effected for the purpose of obtaining dyes having a desired color.

As mentioned above, the compounds of the present invention yieldcharacteristic color hues and have other various characteristics thatthey have a strong binding power to cellulosic substances and that theyare stable and are hardly soluble in water. Because of suchcharacteristic advantages, the compounds of the present invention areexpected to effectively and widely useful in various industrial fieldsof coating materials, dyes, cosmetics and food additives.

Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail by way ofthe following examples, which, however, are not intended to restrict thescope of the present invention.

EXAMPLE 1

A compound of formula (I) was produced by the process mentioned below.

60 days after sowing of safflower seeds, flower buds of the grownsafflower plants swelled slightly. A number of cells were isolated fromthe flower buds under a sterile condition. A solid medium was separatelyprepared by adding 9.5 g/liter of agar to Medium (A) mentioned in Table1 below. The isolated cells of safflower flower buds were dispersed onthe solid medium and incubated thereon for 20 days at 25° C. to obtain alarge amount of callus.

75 ml of Medium (A) was put in a 300 ml-Erlenmeyer flask and sterilizedat 120° C. for 15 minutes. After cooled, 3.5 g of the above-mentionedwet safflower callus was put in the flask and incubated therein at 25°C. for 3 days by rotation culture. Cells as propagated about two timeswere taken out from the medium by suction filtration, and 3.5 g of themwere put on the same medium and were again incubated thereon for further3 days. The operation was repeated to obtain an active propagatedcallus.

3.5 g of the thus obtained callus was applied to Medium (B) mentioned inTable 1 below along with an adsorbent (cellulose powder) and incubatedat 25° C. for 3 days by rotation culture. After incubation, the calluswas separated from the adsorbent (cellulose powder).

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                                       Medium (A)                                                                             Medium (B)                                                           (mg/liter)                                                                             (mg/liter)                                            ______________________________________                                        KNO.sub.3        1900       1900                                              NH.sub.4 NO.sub.3                                                                              1650       1650                                              KH.sub.2 PO.sub.4                                                                              170        170                                               CaCl.sub.2.2H.sub.2 O                                                                          440        --                                                MgSo.sub.4.7H.sub.2 O                                                                          370        --                                                FeSO.sub.4.7H.sub.2 O                                                                          28         28                                                Na.sub.2 EDTA    37         37                                                MnSO.sub.4.4H.sub.2 O                                                                          22         22                                                ZnSO.sub.4.7H.sub.2 O                                                                          9          9                                                 H.sub.3 PO.sub.3 6          6                                                 CuSO.sub.4.5H.sub.2 O                                                                          0.025      0.025                                             NaMoO.sub.2.2H.sub.2 O                                                                         0.025      0.025                                             KI               0.83       0.83                                              CoCl.sub.2.6H.sub.2 O                                                                          0.025      0.025                                             Myoinositol      100        100                                               Thiamine.HCl     10         10                                                Sucrose          30,000     30,000                                            Naphthaleneacetic Acid                                                                         0.186      0.186                                             Benzyladenine    0.225      0.225                                             D-phenylalanine  --         82.5                                              ______________________________________                                    

630 g (dry weight) of the colored cellulose powder was stirred in oneliter of a mixed solvent of acetone/methanol and filtered. The resultingfiltrate was dried up to obtain 520 mg of a solid. 180 mg of the solidwas dissolved in methanol and developed through a Sephadex LH20 column(manufactured by Pharmacia) with methanol. The colored fractions werecollected and dried to obtain 0.8 mg of a violet pillar-like needle-likecrystal.

Melting Point: 228° to 229° C.

IR (cm⁻¹) [KBr Method]: 1622, 1605, 1565, 1546, 1308, 1254, 1113

As a result of X-ray diffraction of the crystal obtained, the crystalwas identified to be a compound having the structure of formula (I). Thecrystal did not vary but existed stably, after it was stored at roomtemperature for at least 150 days.

By dissolution test of the crystal, it was found that the crystal waswell soluble in dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine, methanol, acetonitrile andacetone in this order, that it was slightly soluble in ethyl acetate,and that it was insoluble in ether, benzene, hexane, carbontetrachloride and water. The solution of the crystal was mechanicallyanalyzed to the following results.

¹ H NMR [in (CD₃)₂ SO]: δ3.74 (6H), 3.81 (6H), 6.63 (2H), 7.07 (2H),7.11 (2H), 7.71 (2H)

UV-VIS [in CH₃ OH] (nm): 484, 517

MS: M/Z 357 (anion solution mass)

The compound was adsorbed to a cellulose powder and was measured withColor X measuring System Σ80 (manufactured by Nippon Denshoku Co.) tothe following results.

L: 70.9 a: 26.5 b: -4.05

EXAMPLE 2

Using the same Medium (A) and Medium (B) as those in Example 1, the sameprocess as in Example 1 was repeated to obtain a cellulose powder havinga culture product as adsorbed thereto.

500 g (dry weight) of the cellulose powder was stirred in one liter of amixed solvent of acetone/methanol (1/1) and filtered. The resultingfiltrate was dried up to obtain 260 mg of a solid. The solid wasdissolved in methanol and developed through a Sephadex LH20 column(manufactured by Pharmacia) with methanol. The blue dye fraction wasfurther developed on a silicagel TLC with a mixed solvent developer ofbenzene/acetone/methanol (7/2/1), whereupon 0.5 mg of a bluish violetcrystal was obtained from a fraction having Rf of 0.2.

¹ H NMR [in acetone D₆ ]: δ3.91 (6H), 3.90 (6H)

UV-VIS [CH₃ OH] (nm): 565

MS: 385 (cation solution mass; data of reduced form)

While the invention has been described in detail and with reference tospecific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in theart that various changes and modifications can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A compound having a structural formula (I).##STR4## where n is 1 in essentially pure form.
 2. A solution comprisinga compound as claimed in claim 1 dissolved in a solvent selected fromthe group consisting of dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine, methanol,acetonitrile and acetone.
 3. A solution consisting essentially of thecompound of claim 1 as the only dye compound dissolved in a solventselected from the group consisting of dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine,methanol, acetonitrile and acetone.
 4. Violet pillar-like or needle-likecrystals of the compound as claimed in claim
 1. 5. A composition ofmatter comprising a compound as claimed in claim 1 free of tissueculture medium.